ORF Chief Director Michael Kgler on Taking the Lead Position for the OBS Alpine Men's Downhill World Feed

Milano Cortina 2026 is now underway and Austrian public service broadcaster, ORF, is on site with multiple teams ready to bring all the excitement home.

ORF chief director Michael K gler has been working closely with his team at ORF on its production plans, which include base camps' at Austria House in Cortina d'Ampezzo, where the popular women's downhill will take place, as well as in Bormio, where the men's downhill is set. However, K gler is not part of the ORF team as of the start of the Winter Games; he is working for Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) as director for the Alpine men's downhill in Bormio.

Having previously directed the biathlon events twice at the Winter Olympics, K gler will be responsible for the men's alpine skiing races in Bormio in 2026; the first ORF director to do so since Lucky Schmidtleitner at the 1976 Innsbruck Games.

Speaking to SVG Europe from Frankfurt airport on his way to Italy shortly before the Games, K gler says: Right now I'm in Frankfurt. I'm going down to Milano and then taking the bus to Bormio to start my work there tomorrow morning on the Alpine Downhill race course, to check if the setup which I created for the Olympic downhill men's race, if everything is in place and if it seems everything will come out like I expected it to be when I planned it.

He continues: I'm there in charge for OBS and I'm producing the world feed for OBS. I'm one of the 10 directors doing one particular sport event for OBS. I'm doing the Alpine men's races there; men's downhill is like the hundred metres in summer. It's the biggest [winter sport] you can do, honestly; it's a great honour to do it and a privilege to do it.

Perfect camera plan

ORF chief director Michael K gler, ready to call action!' in the Bormio-based men's Alpine downhill galleryK gler prepared the set up for ORF's coverage with his colleagues, and they are now on the ground in Italy executing that plan. Meanwhile, K gler is working with the OBS team on the Alpine men's downhill which he is directing, to ensure the plan he put in place for that coverage is perfect.

On what he is working with on the production, he states: I got everything there! When [OBS] asked me [what I wanted the camera plan to look like, I said we want to have it like Kitzb hel, notes K gler.

Kitzb hel, Austria is the location of the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Hahnenkamm Races, an annual downhill and slalom spectacular in the Ski World Cup series. This year, the host broadcaster of the Hahnenkamm Races, ORF, under the direction of K gler, sent four drones into the sky for the first time to provide spectacular imagery. The races took place from the 20 to 25 January.

Just like Kitzb hel

We have created a set up like Kitzb hel, K gler notes. We have the same amount of camera numbers; we have 53 cameras [in Bormio] for the men's downhill. We have three drones, we have three cranes, we have more than 16 super slowmo cameras. We have a really great setup. It's really worth it because it's, to me - together with Kitzb hel - it's the greatest downhill event, which deserves great coverage and we hope that we are able to deliver this kind of coverage.

He adds that the audio team is also on the case, ready to bring amazing sounds to viewers' screens around the world of the men's downhill.

K gler notes: They're a really great audio team with benefits doing the stuff for us - [the lead audio A1] did the last three events [at ORF] when I was in charge for biathlon], so he is a great guy. It's not only always video, it's always rolled a bit into audio, which is sometimes forgotten, but audio is really important.

K gler is running an international team for the men's downhill at the Winter Olympics, with 121 people from 10 different nations including crew from Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, France and England. So a really huge group!

The Winter Olympic Games begins on Friday 6 February and finishes on Sunday 22 February.

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2026/02/06/orf-chief-director-michael-kogl...
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